


A Hero's Burden

by PrincessSkylar



Category: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Death, Empty Cup Family, Friendship, Gen, Immortality, Loss, Mourning, im so sorry for this, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-13 01:37:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5689567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessSkylar/pseuds/PrincessSkylar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Magnus didn't realize immortality would be so lonely.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Hero's Burden

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry, but someone had to do it. I just hope I did the idea some sort of justice.   
> Written on my phone so uh major apologies for spelling/grammatical errors.

__

Magnus was sixteen years old when he died. 

He didn't claim to remember it well, just a blur of fire and pain, water, Surt, darkness.

At first, he didn't mind being dead.

Magnus was sixteen when his best friend got married.

 

Samirah looked beautiful in her dress, walking down the aisle with her grandpa, smiling brightly at Amir. She was still learning to hide the adorable blush that spread across her face at the sight of him.

Magnus was sixteen when Annabeth had her first child.

She sent him pictures of a beautiful blonde baby girl, Bianca, and that little girl’s thirty-year-old father. 

Magnus was still sixteen when that baby girl took her first steps, spoke her first words, learned to swing a sword, and held her baby brother, Charlie.

Magnus was sixteen when Annabeth died.

She had two funerals, one for the daughter of Athena, one for the daughter of Frederick Chase. Magnus attended the second. Frederick didn't recognize him, though Magnus supposed his eyes were going by now.

Magnus was sixteen when he received news that his niece was killed in combat.

“She died honorably,” Percy informed him, his hands shaking and eyes neary empty from all the death he had seen. “I… Thought you'd want to know.”

Magnus held his cousin-in-law, and they wept together.

Magnus was sixteen when Percy died.

“How do you do it?” he asked Mallory.

She smiled at him, sad and bitter. “You get used to it.”

Magnus was sixteen when Samirah joined him in Valhalla.

He smiled tiredly and welcomed her. She was forty-three. They no longer felt like siblings.

Magnus was sixteen when Blitzen got his first gray hair. 

It happened too fast. He was gone before anybody was ready. He was only two hundred. Magnus cried for the first time in a century. It felt good.

Magnus was sixteen when Hearthstone died.

It was an accident. No one had seen it coming. Hearth deserved a better end, deserved to live forever with heroes, or live out his days in peace, like Blitz had.

But Hearth looked so tired. Had looked that way for a while. Magnus sat at his side and held his hand, and Hearth stared at him apologetically.

“It's okay,” Magnus told him. “I understand.”

Hearth didn't nod, didn't smile, didn't acknowledge his words. He just let go. He was gone.

Magnus didn't feel anything for a long time after that. Mallory had warned him that could happen. Warned him if he wasn't careful, he would fade away forever.

It was tempting.

Magnus was sixteen when Mallory was killed in combat with Loki.

He held her body for hours, sobbing with the pain of all the loss.  _ Not her, _ he begged the gods,  _ Please, not her. _

Magnus clung tightly to what he had left after that. His own room in Valhalla was abandoned. He spent the nights with TJ or, when he could get away with it, Samirah.

Magnus was sixteen the first time Halfborn Gunderson didn't show up for combat.

“It's Mallory,” TJ explained to him, shaking with with emotion. “She was all he had left.”

Magnus was sixteen when he met Samirah’s great-great grandchildren.

One little boy looked exactly like Amir.

They didn't know who he was.

They didn't know who Samirah was.

Magnus was sixteen when Sam said, “I can't do this anymore.”

He filled with rage. Centuries of anguish lashing out against his best friend. He told her they couldn't give up. Not when they had made it so far.

 

He broke down crying, and she wrapped him in her arms. She promised to be by his side as long as she could.

Magnus was sixteen when Samirah didn't show up for dinner.

“Maybe she's not hungry,” TJ suggested, doing his very best to be positive.

Magnus knew the truth.

“She promised.”

Magnus was sixteen when the world ended.

He rode into battle with TJ and his other hallmates, sword swinging and and voice coarse from screaming.

Magnus was sixteen when he died. 

He was grateful it was finally over. As TJ bent over his fallen body and asked if he would be able to go on.

_  
_ Magnus was sixteen he remembered how to smile.


End file.
